


Let's Break Up....For Real

by unspokenfaith



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Peter really just takes any opportunity, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Jealousy, MJ just really wants to date Peter, Pining, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 04:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19370014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unspokenfaith/pseuds/unspokenfaith
Summary: Brad seems to be taking every shot with MJ on the school trip, until she rejects him in the most unexpected way. Peter really can’t complain though, not when he’s finally getting everything he ever wanted—even almost forgetting it isn’t real.





	Let's Break Up....For Real

**Author's Note:**

> The fake relationship prompt was a must, and I wanted to have jealous!Peter and Brad involved with Far From Home coming out soon (yay!), so hope you enjoy!

Spilling his perfectly scooped cone of gelato on to the sidewalk was the least of Peter’s concerns. The slight disappointment was only mildly distracting when his attention was entirely devoted to Brad talking MJ up in line. Brad, and his absurdly flawless ability to weasel his way into MJ’s line of vision at the drop of a dime.

 

Peter hated that he was so intimidated by him, especially since MJ was no more Brad’s than she was his to be jealous over. No matter how many times he told himself that, it never stopped the sharp discomfort in the pit of his stomach.

 

It’s not even that Brad was doing anything _wrong_. Peter was no different—finding every chance he could get to strike up a conversation with her, to get her alone, to tell her….That didn’t mean he was going to quit being angry about it.

 

He watched as Brad handed MJ a cone before taking one for himself. _He did not just buy her gelato._

 

Peter didn’t even realize that his cone was broken into pieces on the table until Ned came and sat down across from him, pointing it out. “Uh, Peter?”

 

“Sorry,” was all he said, gathering all of the pieces into a pile, then turning to look back at the ice cream line.

 

“Peter, this has to stop,” Ned said, taking a bite of his own gelato. “Just go over there and talk to her. Join the conversation.”

 

“I _can’t._ ”

 

“Why not?” Ned asked.

 

“Because….look at them. He has it all figured out.”

 

“Who cares what he’s doing? Don’t you want to know how MJ feels?”

 

Peter sighed, knowing Ned was right. Brad wasn’t standing between him and MJ. He was.

 

MJ and Brad walked over towards the tables, easily in earshot now.

 

“Quick! Act natural,” Peter said quietly.

 

“I am?” Ned continued eating his gelato. It was times like these that Peter wished he had his suit on. He could’ve used one of the gadgets to...No. That wouldn’t be right. He’d have to stick with eavesdropping like a normal person.

 

“Do you want to sit here?” Brad asked, gesturing to the table next to Peter and Ned.

 

“Uh, sure,” MJ said.

 

She met Peter’s eye for a second. Half a second, and the soft smile on her face made his insides do backflips. He looked away quickly, the smile on her face contagious, and scratched the back of his head.

 

“Did you see that?” Peter whispered excitedly.

 

“See what?” Ned asked.

 

“She smiled at me.” His heart was racing, and the warmth in his chest spread to his face.

 

“Peter, you’re really bad at acting natural.”

 

“Thanks, Ned,” he mumbled.

 

Momentarily distracted, Peter turned his attention back to Brad and MJ’s conversation. Something about a movie...No, a book. Brad was talking her up on one of MJ’s favorite discussions. It was an admirable move.

 

“I think they have a bookstore not that far from here. I saw it on the way over here,” Brad said.

 

“Oh, really? I must’ve missed it.” MJ looked back in the direction they all walked from, as though the bookstore were visible from her seat.

 

“I can take you there after we’re done if you want to check it out.” The smile on Brad’s face made Peter want to “accidentally” spill his gelato, too. Maybe if he wasn’t looking…

 

MJ blinked in surprise. “Oh, I, uh…”

 

“We don’t have to—”

 

“I have a boyfriend!” she blurted out, causing Peter to turn around completely in his chair to face them. Ned nearly choked on his gelato.

 

That was probably the last answer Brad was expecting. “Oh...MJ, I had no idea.”

 

She wasn’t even looking at him. “It’s okay.”

 

“Who is it? If you don’t mind me asking.”

 

“It’s, uh, it’s…” MJ looked around, her eyes falling on Peter yet again. He was still trying to process what she just revealed when she said clearly, with a bold resolve, “Peter.”

 

His jaw dropped, and at the same time Ned kicked his shin under the table. She couldn’t have just…

 

“Peter’s my boyfriend,” MJ repeated. She smiled, giving Peter a look with her eyes darting back and forth between him and Brad.

 

When he finally caught on to what was happening, he closed his mouth and stood up so fast that his chair fell over.

 

“Yeah, that’s me. MJ’s boyfriend.” Peter laughed nervously. Ned was hiding his face in his hands.

 

Brad’s eyes widened, and a small, sadistic part of Peter could not be more pleased with this sudden turn of events.

 

“Peter? Peter’s your boyfriend? And you guys didn’t _tell_ anyone?”

 

“Well…” MJ looked at Peter, both of them trying to reach the same answer.

 

“We just thought with the team and all...we didn’t want things to be weird,” MJ settled on. Peter nodded vigorously, while Brad eyed the two of them.

 

“Huh. You guys don’t act like you’re together,” he said.

 

Peter swallowed the lump in his throat as MJ stood up and came over to him. She took his hand with both of hers, causing his skin to tickle, and rested her head on his shoulder. Whatever possessed MJ to do this, he was perfectly happy not to question it.

 

“Well, that’s the whole point of it being a secret, right?” MJ beamed, squeezing Peter’s hand.

 

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, we’re sorry we kept it from you guys for so long.”

 

Brad didn’t seem entirely convinced, and Peter couldn’t blame him. His perplexity that this was _actually_ happening—well, sort of—didn’t make him the best actor.

 

“Well, congrats, guys.” Brad left the table to throw out the rest of his ice cream. Peter almost felt bad for him, too. He was in his position not five minutes ago.

 

MJ turned on him. “Look, before you say anything. I’m sorry, okay? I panicked and didn’t know what else to do. Brad’s nice and all, but I’m not interested and he just can’t seem to take a hint. It was the only thing I could think of to do. I—”

 

“Woah, you don’t have to explain. I get it.” He was slightly distracted by the _I’m not interested_ part, and doing his best not to get too ahead of himself.

 

“Cool, so you’re okay with going along with this for the rest of the trip?”

 

That snapped Peter back into reality. “Wait, _what_?!”

 

“Just until we go home. Then we can pretend we broke up or something. Brad will cool off by then, and I don’t see him as much in school anyway.”

 

“Only to the end of the trip?” Disappointment seeped into his voice, but he wasn’t sure why. They weren’t _really_ dating, after all. There was nothing to lose.

 

“Yes,” MJ said. “So you’ll do it?”

 

Before allowing himself a sensible amount of time to think about it, Peter answered firmly, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

 

* * *

 

Once they got beyond the initial shock, the other team members seemed to be buying Peter and MJ dating, no thanks to Peter. He’s lucky MJ was a surprisingly good actress. Anyone would think she was actually into him. Even Peter caught himself forgetting it was all pretend. It wasn’t until they came back to the hotel at night, when he laid in bed—still reeling from the feeling of MJ’s hand in his, the tickle of her hair on his face when she would whisper in his ear—that he was confronted with the disappointment of reality all over again. For now at least, it would have to do.

 

“Peter, are you listening?”

 

Ned’s voice broke him out of his thoughts.

 

“Hmm, what?”

 

He sighed. “Dude, have you even been watching the movie?”

 

Peter turned his attention to TV where _The Force Awakens_ was playing. They watched it all the time, but never got tired of it. Since it was the only _Star Wars_ movie in the free film category, it was the logical thing to do before going to sleep every night.

 

“Sorry. I’m just...thinking,” Peter said.

 

“Let me guess, MJ?”

 

Peter fell back on his bed, throwing his arms out. “It’s just...I feel like I’m not doing this right.”

 

“Doing what?” Ned asked.

 

“This whole dating thing. I feel like I’m screwing everything up.”

 

Ned stared at him blankly. “Peter, you do remember you’re not actually dating MJ, right?”

 

“Yeah...yeah, I know. I just….it feels like I am, and there’s all this pressure. I feel like I’m not doing enough.”

 

“Dude, you’ve lost it.”

 

Peter sighed, grabbing a pillow and holding it over his face. “I just really like her, Ned. I don’t know what to do,” he said in a muffled voice.

 

“Well, you could just...I don’t know….ask her out for real. You know? Your original plan for this trip.”

 

He thought about MJ and the way she threw her head back, laughing at a joke Peter didn’t actually make, her soft gaze, the feeling of her cheek on his hand when he brushed the piece of hair that hung down the side of her face. It all felt _real_ , but it didn’t matter if her feelings weren’t. And he wanted real with MJ.

 

Peter hoisted himself up from the bed and walked toward the door.

 

“Where are you going?” Ned asked.

 

“To break up with MJ.”

 

As he closed the door behind him, Ned yelled, “Okay, but I’m not pausing the movie.”

 

He looked both ways, checking for Mr. Harrington, who always made rounds to all the rooms before retiring to his own. Everyone knew what the “rounds” were really for, and Peter was breaking his only rule.

Once he was sure the coast was clear, he walked down the hallway to MJ and Betty’s room, stopping in front of the door.

 

_Just do it, Peter._

 

He took a deep breath as he raised his arm, nearly jumping out of his skin when the door opened itself. MJ stood on the other side, and also jumped at the sight of Peter.

 

“Okay, dude, you have to knock next time.” MJ threw a glance back at Betty, who was already sound asleep, then turned back to Peter, whispering, “What are you doing here?”

 

“Can I talk to you?” he asked. “Please?”

 

She studied his face for a moment before stepping out of the room and closing the door. “Let’s go. I was heading to the vending machine anyway.”

 

They walked in silence to the end of the hallway, then turned into the small room—more like a closet really—with the vending and ice machines. MJ looked down the hallway again before closing the door.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“I….Well….” Peter might have been distracted by how little space and light there was, but he tried to pull himself together.

 

“You want to break up,” MJ said.

 

“ _What?_ How did you know?”

 

She shrugged. “I figured the whole fake dating thing would get old really quick. And it did. It’s _so_ tiring.”

 

Peter laughed anxiously. He’d be lying if that didn’t sting, but it shouldn’t. _It’s not real._

 

“I shouldn’t have put that on you in the first place. It was a lot to ask, you know, making someone pretend to like you.”

 

He had to say something now.

 

“MJ, I…”

 

“Look, you really don’t have to explain. No hard feelings or anything. It was fun, but it wasn’t real.” He thought he caught a twinge of disappointment in her voice, but it was probably his imagination.

 

“What if it was?” Peter blurted out. MJ tilted her head, but he kept going. “I mean, not the actual dating part. But the...you know…”

 

The door burst open, Peter and MJ whipping their heads around to find Brad standing there, frozen.

 

“Oh, damn, sorry guys, I just wanted to get—”

 

Whatever Brad was going to say went unfinished, because without so much as a warning, MJ grabbed Peter by the shirt, pulling him to her and kissing him. _Really_ kissing him. His face was burning, but he felt like he was floating. It might’ve been a second, or twenty—Peter couldn’t tell, and he didn’t really care—when they pulled apart.

 

“And….never mind,” Brad said, disappearing down the hallway.

 

“Well, that was a close one,” MJ said, straightening her shirt.

 

Peter was completely breathless, staring at her in awe.

 

“I figured one last hurrah before the break up,” she stated. “You could’ve acted less surprised, but otherwise I thought it was good.”

 

When his brain was functioning again, he realized MJ didn’t really _have_ to do that. There was no point, not when they were “broken up,” and Brad was just there looking for a midnight snack.

 

“Well...goodnight, I guess,” MJ said before turning towards the door.

 

“MJ, wait!”

 

She looked back at him. “What?”

 

“What if we….didn’t break up….for real?”

 

After he said it, he knew it made no sense, but he was hoping she would understand anyway.

 

But she smiled. _That breathtaking smile_. “Yeah...yeah, I would like that.”

 

He caught her blushing before she turned down the hallway, and he held on to that, because it was real.


End file.
